


nodus tollens

by kihyuks



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Strangers to Lovers, Trapped, hyungwon is lost in life but changhyuk help him figure things out, hyungwon wants to be an author, snowstorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23427658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: n.the realisation that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore—that although you thought you were following the arc of the story, you keep finding yourself immersed in passages you don’t understand, that don’t even seem to belong in the same genre—which requires you to go back and reread the chapters you had originally skimmed to get to the good parts, only to learn that all along you were supposed to choose your own adventure.(or, hyungwon is a struggling author who gets trapped in the bookstore he works at overnight due to a snowstorm with two strangers, changkyun and minhyuk.)
Relationships: Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M, Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Minhyuk, Chae Hyungwon/Lee Minhyuk, Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Minhyuk
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49
Collections: OBSCURE SORROWS FIC FEST





	nodus tollens

**Author's Note:**

> heres my fic for obscure sorrows fic fest!! i'm rly happy w how this came out hehe

Every book Hyungwon stacks onto the shelves of the bookstore he works at feels like a harsh reminder of his failure to get a single one of his novels published. Years of writing, years of hard work, hours upon hours poured into his novels, all his blood sweat and tears poured into them, only to receive rejection upon rejection upon rejection. It’s something he’s unfortunately had to get used to. He continues to write (when he has the time and energy because working a full-time job in order to get by is exhausting) and submit query letters to more publishers than he can even count, but it all feels futile. 

If Hyungwon had to describe himself, he’d probably call himself a struggling author. He wants to write, that’s what he wants to do as a career, but it’s just so hard to get noticed. He’s lucky that he’s found a job where he’s able to work in a bookstore, even if the pay isn’t the greatest, because he at least gets to be surrounded by books. Most days this is nice, a reminder that one day he could see his own books on these shelves, but other days, like today, it’s just a grim reminder that he still hasn’t made it the way these authors have.

He’s so lost with his life. It feels directionless. All this time he’s spent working on novels and trying so hard to become the author he’s always dreamed of ever since he was a little boy and for what? He has nothing to show for it other than a bunch of ideas, half finished novels and a few that have been finished, but ultimately rejected by publishing companies. Everything he’s worked towards all of his life is in vain so far and Hyungwon doesn’t know how much longer he can continue on this dead end road. 

It feels like he’s pushing forward and sticking to the path he believes he’s meant to travel down and yet he’s making no progress. Every step he takes down the path of his life just feels like it’s pushing his goal further and further away. 

Hyungwon sighs. He doesn’t hate his job, but it becomes monotonous to do nothing but put books onto shelves over and over again each day. He’s trained to work on the till, too, but usually his coworkers prefer to do that job and so Hyungwon is stuck doing the job that everyone wants to do the least. But he reminds himself that he’s at least earning money while he tries and prays for his career as an author to eventually take off. 

“Um, excuse me,” comes a voice from behind Hyungwon, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He turns around to see a man a little shorter than himself with burgundy red hair and an eyebrow piercing looking at him shyly. “How can I help?” Hyungwon asks, slipping into his Customer Service Voice ™.

“I was wondering where your books on space are?” He seems a little embarrassed, but Hyungwon can’t tell if it’s because of the subject matter he’s asking about or if he’s just shy about asking for help.

“I’ll show you.” Hyungwon begins to lead the man towards the back of the store where their non-fiction books are kept. Along the way, he decides to make some small talk, because it’s the only human interaction he’s probably going to get all day, so he might as well make the most of it. “Are you looking for space books for any particular reason?”

“Oh, not really.” The man seems shocked that Hyungwon is even talking to him. “I just really like space, I guess.”

“It is pretty cool. Scary, but cool.” They stop at the books the man had requested and Hyungwon gestures to them. “Here you go.”

“Thank you so much,” the man says with a soft smile.

Hyungwon smiles back and then he returns to the aisle he was at before to continue with stacking the shelves like he’d been doing before helping the man. 

After repeating the monotonous task over and over again for Hyungwon can’t even tell how long, he hears the chime of the bell as someone enters the store and turns his head to look. He spots one of their regulars walking in, a tall man with messy blonde hair and a bright smile. 

“Good evening,” the man greets with his signature smile when he sees Hyungwon.

“‘Evening,” Hyungwon replies. He can’t for the life of him remember the man’s name, although he knows he’s been told it at some point before, but he sees him in the store quite often nowadays. Sometimes he just comes to browse and walks up and down each aisle, picking out titles that look interesting to him and reading the blurb before either replacing them or adding them to his small stack of books to purchase, and other times he seems to enter with a purpose, heading to a specific aisle before picking out a book and having a read of it in one of the chairs in their reading nook. 

Hyungwon shakes himself of thinking about the man when he realises he’s been staring after him instead of doing his work like he’s supposed to be doing. He quickly checks the time on his watch to see that it’s nearing the end of his shift, only about an hour left to go, and he couldn’t be more thankful. On Thursdays they keep the store open later than usual which means Hyungwon works a longer shift and he’s always exhausted by the end of it.

“Hey, Hyungwon, can I ask a favour?” Hyungwon’s coworker, Hyunwoo, says as he approaches Hyungwon. He’s been working the till all day while Hyungwon’s been stocking the shelves and helping out their (very few) customers so they haven’t had a chance to talk until now. 

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Do you mind if I head off an hour early? I know we’re both on close but the store is almost empty already and I’m on kid duty tonight while my boyfriend goes out for a work event.”

“Yeah, of course,” Hyungwon agrees easily. Hyunwoo’s covered Hyungwon’s shifts enough times and let him leave early when he’s needed to that he’s more than happy to jump at the chance to return the favour to Hyunwoo.

“Thanks, Hyungwon. You’re the best. See you tomorrow!”

“See you,” Hyungwon replies as Hyunwoo heads into the back room to collect his things to head home.

With Hyunwoo now leaving and most of the shelves restocked and organised, Hyungwon heads to the till to wait behind it for the last remaining hour of his shift. He doesn’t think there’ll be any purchases, the only two customers left are the man who he’d shown to the space books and their regular customer and both of them are sitting in the reading nook reading through books they each picked out, but it’s best not to leave the till unmanned, anyway, just in case. 

* * *

The final hour passes by quickly, which shocks Hyungwon but he’s thankful for it. The two customers are still in the store, but before he’s able to approach them to let them know the store is about to close and so they need to leave, the blonde one approaches him first.

“Uh, sorry to bother you,” he says, shifting his weight between his feet, “but, um, there’s a snowstorm outside.”

Hyungwon looks over to the huge windows at the front of the store and, sure enough, the white flakes fall past the window. There’s already a decent height of snow piled up against the door and Hyungwon wonders when the snowfall got so heavy. It had been snowing lightly when he first got to work, but he’d assumed it would’ve let up by now. He didn’t even notice that it hadn’t stopped snowing, but being so caught up in his thoughts all day is probably the cause of that. 

“Huh, I didn’t even notice,” Hyungwon replies. 

“It’s meant to let up in another hour,” the man explains, “but I don’t think any of us should leave while it’s so bad out there.” He looks shy at his own suggestion. 

The man isn’t wrong. Now that Hyungwon’s actually noticed the snow and seen how heavy it is he wouldn’t go out in it anyway, he’d wait in the store until it calmed down, so it’s no burden on him to allow the two remaining customers to wait with him, too. “You’re fine to wait in here until it calms down. I need to go do some last minute checks so if you can tell the other guy who’s still here that’d be great.”

The man nods and turns to leave, but then pauses and turns his head back to say, “I’m Minhyuk, by the way.”

“Hyungwon. Nice to meet you.”

Minhyuk gives him another one of those smiles and then he heads back over to the reading nook. 

With a plan set in place, Hyungwon gets to work on everything he needs to do to close up the store. 

It doesn’t take him long to do so, only fifteen minutes or so, and when he’s finished he decides to go join Minhyuk and the other customer in the reading nook. He’s been on his feet all day so he can really do with sitting down for a bit. 

“Hey,” Hyungwon greets as he approaches them. 

“Hi,” Minhyuk greets back. “This is Changkyun, by the way.”

Changkyun gives a wave and a small smile which Hyungwon returns. 

“Does it look like it’s calming down at all?” Hyungwon asks as he takes a seat on one of the free chairs. 

“Not really,” Changkyun replies. “It just seems to be getting heavier.” He has a frown on his face as he says it. 

Hyungwon sighs. If it doesn’t let up anytime soon they’re probably in for a long night. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to sleep in the bookstore overnight because of the weather, but it’s the first time he’s done so with customers. It’s a scary thought to have to trust two strangers and Hyungwon doubts he’ll get a wink of sleep because of it, but the weather can’t be controlled so it’s just something he’s going to have to deal with. 

“Thank you for letting us stay, by the way,” Minhyuk says. “It looks awful out there and I live super far away so I have no idea how I’d get home.”

“If it lets up enough for us to leave I can give you a lift home,” Hyungwon offers, completely unlike himself. He doesn’t know what comes over him to offer a ride to a stranger. He must just be weak for a pretty smile. 

“Oh, thank you.” Minhyuk gives him another smile and  _ yeah _ , Hyungwon’s most definitely weak for it. 

“I have a feeling we might be stuck here all night, though.” Hyungwon doesn’t want to admit it, but it seems more and more likely to be the outcome at this point. 

“You really don’t mind us staying?” Changkyun asks. 

“Not at all. It’s kinda nice to have company instead of sitting in here alone all night.”

“It’s happened before?”

Hyungwon nods. “When there was a snowstorm last year I got stuck here overnight then. It’s why I’m assuming the same will happen today because it seems just as heavy.”

“I mean, there are worse places to be stuck in overnight than a bookstore, aren’t there?” Minhyuk says with a small laugh. “At least you have books to amuse you.”

“I did end up reading for most of the night,” Hyungwon admits. “But still, not ideal.”

“Well, you’ve got two good looking strangers to amuse you as well as the books. I think that’s a win.” Minhyuk smirks as he said it, then his eyes widen slightly as he must realise what he said. 

Changkyun’s cheeks are rosy red and he looks like he’s attempting to become one with the chair he’s sitting in. 

“Only two good looking men in this room?” Hyungwon asks with a raised eyebrow. 

“Oh, no, definitely at least four of us.”

Hyungwon’s eyebrows draw together. “Four?”

Minhyuk gestures just over Hyungwon’s shoulder, so Hyungwon turns around to look and sees a typical romance novel with some random shirtless man on the cover (as those cheesy romance novels often have) right beside him. 

Hyungwon rolls his eyes when he looks back at Minhyuk, but he can’t help but laugh anyway. It’s so ridiculous. “Definitely the best looking out of all of us.”

“I don’t know,” Changkyun says, “I think you two make some good competition.” Despite having been embarrassed about Minhyuk complimenting him only minutes before, Changkyun seems a lot more confident now.

Hyungwon wonders how he’s found himself in a situation where he’s trapped inside his place of work with two strangers who appear to be flirting with him. It’s definitely the last thing he expected to happen when he came into work today. 

Chatting (and a little bit of flirting) continues on for a while as the three of them get to know each other better. They’re going to be stuck together for hours, so they might as well try to find out some more facts about each other, and Hyungwon finds himself becoming more and more interested in the two men. 

Then, just as they’re getting more comfortable, having fun and laughing together, the power goes out.

Someone lets out a yelp, it sounds vaguely like Minhyuk, and Hyungwon can only groan. The power in the store is known to be faulty, but Hyungwon didn’t expect them to have any problems tonight. He should’ve prepared himself for it, probably, knowing his track record with bad luck at all times.

“Well,” Minhyuk says, “this is fun.”

Hyungwon laughs. “This night really is getting more and more interesting, isn’t it?”

It’s not completely pitch black inside as they’re sitting near to the huge, open front windows of the store and there’s some light filtering through it from the street lights, but not much. The snow that continues to fall heavily does nothing to help the light situation.

“Oh, shit, wait,” Changkyun says, leaning over the edge of his seat to grab the bag of shopping he’s had with him all day, “I bought candles earlier.” He pulls out said candles and holds them up with a smile.

“That’s pretty convenient,” Hyungwon says. “Please tell me you have a lighter, too, because there’s none here.”

Changkyun looks disappointed for a second, but then his grin is back. “I bought matches, too, because I have none at home.” He pulls out the box of matches and lights both of the candles, putting one down between him and Minhyuk, but at a reasonable distance that nothing can possibly catch on fire, and then puts the other down near Hyungwon. With only two small candles they don’t provide much light, but it’s still better than having no source of light at all.

“Just three dudes in an empty bookstore trapped in a snowstorm with only two candles as their source of light,” Minhyuk says in an overly dramatic voice. “What will happen to them next?”

Changkyun starts giggling, which makes Hyungwon start laughing too, and soon enough the three of them are laughing together in the dark.

It’s not the ideal situation to be in, not by a long shot, but Hyungwon feels nothing but happiness flow through him as he laughs in joy with the two strangers that he slowly feels like he’s getting to know better.

* * *

Sleep doesn’t come to any of them. They make attempts to get some rest, but the loud wind accompanied by having to try to sleep in chairs in a store rather than in a bed at home makes it impossible for any of them to sleep more than a few minutes on and off. 

The later it gets into the night, the more delirious they get with the tiredness and being stuck with only each other and their own thoughts.

“No, but listen,” Changkyun says, waving his arms around dramatically as he tries to make his point, “there’s just  _ so _ much space, right? Like, it’s huge and we obviously can’t explore it all, so how can we even think that aliens aren’t out there  _ somewhere _ ? We can’t be the only planet to have life on it, that’s just so unlikely.”

“I mean, yeah, space is huge, but that doesn’t mean aliens have to exist,” Minhyuk shoots back, an eyebrow raised. He’s leaning back in his chair casually, unbothered.

The frustration shows on Changkyun’s face at Minhyuk’s clear lack of listening to him. “If you don’t believe in aliens, what do you believe in?”

Minhyuk hums like he’s considering it, and then comes out with the last thing Hyungwon expects to hear. “Mermaids.”

Changkyun blanches. “ _ Mermaids? _ You don’t believe in aliens but you do believe in mermaids?”

“I mean, yeah. We’ve explored, like, 5% of the ocean or something, so why is it unrealistic that mermaids exist?” There’s a smirk on Minhyuk’s face and understanding dawns over Hyungwon.

It must hit Changkyun a few seconds later, because he blinks very slowly with the most unamused expression on his face and says, “You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Minhyuk replies, popping the ‘p’, clearly proud of himself. “You’re cute when you get riled up.”

Changkyun sinks back into his chair with a pout on his face. “Meanie.”

Hyungwon, who’s stayed silent for their conversation as he’d found it amusing just to listen to the two of them, finally pipes up with, “You are such a baby.”

“Maybe I like being babied.”

“We’re learning a lot about each other today,” Minhyuk says, laughing. Then, his laughter turns into a yawn. “God, I’m tired.”

“I feel like I should ask the owner if we can invest in some beds for when this inevitably happens again,” Hyungwon jokes. He’s exhausted too and he really wishes he was in his bed right now, tucked up all warm and tight, having a good night's sleep instead of stuck here, awake and uncomfortable. The only saving grace is he has a day off tomorrow. Having to stay overnight in the store and then work the next day would be torture, honestly, especially knowing that it’ll be mostly empty due to the snow. No one wants to venture into their little bookstore in the snow. 

Thinking about working and not working sends Hyungwon back into his thoughts about how lost he is about life. He sighs, thinking he does it quietly, but Changkyun must hear because he says, “What’s up?”

Hyungwon debates for a moment whether he should tell the two of them how he’s really feeling, or if he should just come up with some excuse, but his tiredness makes his filter a lot lower, and he really just wants to talk to someone about how he’s feeling, so he decides to tell them. “I feel so lost with life.”

“In what way?”

Hyungwon shrugs his shoulders slightly. “I don’t know. Just, like, I want to be an author, right? But I keep getting rejected from every publishing company I send a query to. None of them seem interested in any of my books. So, here I am, stuck working in a dead end retail job not really knowing where I’m headed. I thought I had everything figured out, I thought I was following the path life wants me to take, but it feels like I’m getting nowhere.”

“You can pick your own path in life,” Changkyun says shyly, like he’s unsure about it. Then, more confidently he adds, “Sure, you might think you’re following what you’re supposed to do, but there’s not one thing any of us are supposed to be doing.”

“Yeah, he’s right,” Minhyuk agrees. “And if you feel like the path you’re taking is the wrong one, go down a different one. You don’t need everything figured out right now, but feeling lost is normal. We all feel lost at times. If being an author is what you want to do, though, keep pursuing it and one day you’ll reach the point you want to be at. And if in the meantime you have to find another passion or another job that appeals to you until you can be the author you want to be, that’s okay too.”

Hyungwon stays quiet for a moment as he lets the words from the two of them wash over him and sink into his brain. It’s a lot to process at once, so he stays quiet for a while, but as he sits there and thinks about it he realises they’re right. He’s thought all along that he’s been doing what he’s supposed to, following the main path, but sometimes you have to veer off onto a different route and choose your own pathway in life. “You’re right, both of you,” he says. “Thank you.”

They both give him warm smiles and Minhyuk says, “I feel like being trapped together in a snowstorm gives you a certain type of bond.” He adds a wink at the end for effect.

Hyungwon smiles back and mentally thanks the weather for giving them a snowstorm so it allowed him to meet Changkyun and Minhyuk and finally talk out his feelings with someone.

* * *

Changkyun and Minhyuk end up falling asleep, but Hyungwon still remains awake. He has too many thoughts swirling around his brain for him to get any sleep. Changkyun and Minhyuk’s advice is on his mind, mixing with his memories of his past and the things he could’ve done differently. 

But there’s no use sitting in regret and worrying about what he could and couldn’t have done. He can only think towards his future and how he can do things differently. He knows now that sometimes taking some risks is worth it. He’s spent so long set in his ways where it’s been comfortable, but being uncomfortable at times isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes going outside of your comfort zone is necessary to have an even better life ahead, and that’s something Hyungwon has to remember. 

It’s funny, really, how two strangers have given Hyungwon the best advice he’s had in years and actually got him to reconsider things. He still wants to be an author, that’s his ultimate goal for his life, but he can keep sight of that and also find something for the meantime. 

The sun begins to rise, the sky painted in shades of reds, oranges and yellows, and Hyungwon smiles as he watches it. 

“Oh, did I fall asleep?” comes Minhyuk’s voice.

Hyungwon turns to look at him. Minhyuk’s stretching his arms over his head and Changkyun next to him is slowly blinking himself awake too.

And for the start of Hyungwon’s new life and choosing his own path, he decides to ask a question to the two men. “How would you two feel about going on a date with me?”

There are two resounding answers of ‘yes’.

In that moment Hyungwon turns down a side road of his life, off the main path and down a small dirt road, and even though he doesn’t know what’s ahead of him and what might be to come, he feels happier and more comfortable in his life than he has done in a while. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos n comments r much appreciated!!!
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)  
> cc: [changkihyks](https://curiouscat.me/changkihyks?t=1559413679/)  
> 


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